4 Ways To Naturally Lower Your Blood Sugar

Nothing’s worse than going in for a routine checkup only to find out that you’ve been officially diagnosed as diabetic. If you’re lucky you’ve had some warning, or maybe your doctor’s just informed you that you’re now classified as pre-diabetic. In both scenarios the instructions you’ll be given are the same: lower your blood sugar.

Some people are able to lower their sugars on their own, and with enough lifestyle adjustments they can completely reverse a diabetes diagnosis. While this isn’t possible for everyone, it’s always a good idea to adapt habits that help keep your blood sugar as low as possible. In some cases, insulin or metformin can be avoided with these tips.

1. Cinnamon

It’s a less obvious solution, but believe it or not, increasing your cinnamon consumption has been proven to lower blood sugar by up to 29%. You only want to add a couple of grams a day though; like most things, too much can be damaging. If you’re on insulin, or find yourself there eventually, it also increases your insulin sensitivity. This means you need less medication to regulate your sugars, and the less medication you need the better your body is going to be at performing on its own.

2. Exercise

Nobody likes being told that they have to go jogging more often, but aerobic exercise in particular has been proven to have a huge impact on blood sugar levels. Exercise works on a couple of levels to battle high blood sugar. The first, like cinnamon, helps increase insulin sensitivity. The second is when you exercise your muscles use blood sugar for both muscle contraction and to burn energy, reducing your levels substantially.

3. Drink Water

While drinking water and staying hydrated is important for everyone, it’s even more important if you’re diabetic or pre-diabetic. If you feel like your sugar’s gone too high, drink a lot of water. The more you drink, the more your kidneys are able to flush toxins out of your body. And when you start drinking water more often, you’re likely to see a reduction in the number of other drinks you consume. Juice, sodas and coffee with sugar or creamers and milk are all high sugar items. The more of them that you can replace with water, the better your body’s going to be able to regulate glucose.

4. Sleep Well

This may be the hardest piece for a lot of people, but being well rested is crucial for a diabetic. For one, being well rested reduces stress and high stress is a proven factor in high blood sugar levels. Facing the day with enough sleep behind you gives you the energy you need along with higher cognitive function to help minimize your stress. And the less you sleep the more you eat – your body demands it. You’re not getting the energy you need from rest, so your body tells you it’s hungry. It needs to get that energy from somewhere, and calories are what it’s going to crave. The more you eat, the higher your blood sugar is likely to go.